The protest culture was reflected above all in the attitude to life and in the spirit of the times. The 1968 movement loosened conventions in thinking and in everyday culture.

Hippies, bums, mini skirts, blue jeans: all of these were style-shaping for the colourful fashion world of the 60s. Sloppy sweaters, tattered jeans and long hair were an emphatic rejection of bourgeois stuffness. The hippies' clothing style consisted of flared trousers, beat boots and brightly coloured tops.

Lingerie, on the other hand, no longer belonged to the obligatory outfit, the simultaneous market maturity of the "pill" brought completely new freedoms - the experimental 68ers postulated "free love" and celebrated a "sexual revolution". Women's and gay movements also picked up speed. Municipalities and flat-sharing communities were other alternative forms of life. The Berliner Kommune I made headlines nationwide with its actions and happenings. Its members Rainer Langhans and Fritz Teufel became the poster boys of the German protest movement, Uschi Obermaier the sex symbol of the generation.

The sound of the revolution was provided by the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and The Who. Beside the bands of the "British Invasion" the psychedelic sounds of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix or Jefferson Airplane set the tone. Marijuana and LSD - true to Timothy Leary's slogan - provided the right mood: "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out!"

On the one hand, "68" meant a democratization and liberalization of society - citizens' initiatives, co-determination, educational reform and critical dealings with authorities are still visible successes today. On the other hand, a loss of social values and the dissolution of family structures are also criticised as consequences of rebellion.